Police Ask For Help Finding Six Year Old Missing For A Year

(KNSI) – Residents along the Mississippi River in central Minnesota are asked to keep an eye out for a six-year-old girl who’s been missing for nearly a year.

Elle Ragin became a missing person on July 2nd, 2022, after her mother, 39-year-old Lisa Wade, died by suicide in Northfield, and the girl was nowhere to be found. It is believed Wade had something to do with her daughter’s disappearance.

Investigators say Ragin was last seen on June 19th. Around noon on June 21st, Wade drove to Mississippi River County Park near Rice in a black Honda CRV. On June 23rd, around 9:00 a.m., a Stearns County Deputy found Wade in the park near her SUV. She told the deputy she lost her phone and car keys while hiking in the park. The deputy says she was alone, and he assisted her in getting the car towed to St. Cloud, where she had a new key made.

Family members told police that Wade was distraught over the next week and took her life on July 2nd.

On July 3rd, officers learned about her prior contact with police at the park and searched the area and river. Police found Ragin’s cell phone on land and Wade’s cell phone, purse and computer in the river. Multiple searches have yet to turn up any new evidence.

Officials ask people to watch for anything unusual on the shores between the park and the Sartell Dam.

Anyone with information should call the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office at 320-251-4240 or the Northfield Police Department at 507-663-9302.

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